Music 123 buyers READ THIS!!!

Doctor J

I placed an order with them last Wednesday for a new bass. I chose to pay via Wester Union money transfer and did so on Friday afternoon. When I checked the order status on Friday evening the SHIP TO address had been changed to

B Carroll
6939 Hidden Pines Drive
Theodore, AL 36582-6259
United States

This was done without my knowledge or consent.

So, frantically, I changed the SHIP TO address back to my address as the order status was now processing. Then I emailed their customer service. Their response was

"Hello

That has been changed.
Thanks and let me know what else you might need." I also phoned them on Friday evening and the guy's response was "Oh, that's not good". Well, it's been sorted and I've the confirmed the bass is being shipped to merry old Ireland, hopefully to me, at my address, though I can't really be sure until I'm holding it.

Doesn't really inspire confidence, does it? The way I see it, either my account was hacked or my password was intercepted (I only created the account on Wednesday afternoon and the SHIP TO address was ok on Friday morning) or their database or system screwed up. Either way, I think it'll be a while before I order from them again and that thieving, cheeky monkey will be receiving my poop through the mail for the forseeable future. Be very f*ckin careful, folks!

Antisocialiser

deadly man , well when i ordered from them they sent the guitar in the wrong colour without the free case. The case wasnt very free when i had to pay more than i would have if i bought it here in shipping.

Doctor J

Sent a few e-mails back and forth asking them what the f*ck happened and the best I could get was, and I quote,

"Could be that the accounts were mixed with another".


:eek:


OK, the bass is shipping to Dublin, that's confirmed, at last, but what's also confirmed is that I won't be ordering another thing from Music 123... ever. That's just not good enough, I could be down €1,000 because "Could be that the accounts were mixed with another"?!?!?!?!?!?

Ancient1

damn right - i wouldnt ever order a guitar or bass online - but i understand your fear ( i saw the babe you ordered a few threads back)

disgruntled

Ive used them a couple of time in the last year and never had any problems. Everything was correct. I think that they are better than Thomman because you can check on the order status and your details at any time unlike thomann. You can also track your order on the UPS web site. The only catch is the vat and duty you have to pay when its delivered.

Doctor J

Just found out that, though I alerted them on the 5th and sent and received e-mails on the 8th, reassuring me it was being sent to Dublin, they sent it to Alabama anyway!!! :eek:

So I've spent a fair bit of the last hour phoning these people, being transferred from one unhelpful moron to another, until finally someone actually listened to what I was telling them and did something about it.

Luckily, it's now in Detroit and not scheduled to be delivered until Saturday, so they should be able to stop it (though it's only luck that I copped this again when I did).

Anyway, I've been waiting 30 minutes for a response and I'm gonna give their Customer Service manager a ring very, very shortly.

Music 123 suck the big one. I will never, ever deal with them again.

Töpher

:rolleyes: :eek: :mad:
morons.

Treebeard

That sucks royal ass. I've ordered from them before and not had any problems but your experience would put me off ordering from them again

wiped

I know Thomann has been mentioned , and dismissed in the same breath, but I've bought from them before and thought they were excellent .........

Doctor J

It actually gets worse, it looks like there are monkeys running the place. I received this:

Dear Doctor J, I called fed ex and they could not change the address b.c its going to Ireland. so we are going to have the item shipped back to us and re send it to Dublin Ireland if you have any question please give me a call. Thanks

Fine, I thought, until I checked the FedEx tracking again and it was actually
delivered to the wrong address on Saturday evening. So I got onto them on Sunday asking what the f*ck was going on. Heard nothing back. I phoned their customer services manager on Monday, spent about 20 minutes explaining very slowly how the address was not changed by me. Luckily, I had two peoples names I had dealt with there. Sure enough, i received this on Tuesday:

Dear Customer, I did call fed ex on time to let them know that we has the wrong address to please do not delivery the package and they did I called them yesterday and had a very nice long talk with them. they are going to pick up the package were they dropped it off and they are going to send it back to us. They were going to pick it up today. when we get it in we are going to send it to you to the correct address. if you have any questions write me back. Thanks Janet L

So now I've heard nothing since, I asked them to confirm that FedEx had received the bass, to confirm that someone had actually called FedEx, just to make sure all was well. I received this last night:

Dear Doctor J The last time I told to them they told me they were going to go to the home were they dropped off the items to pick them out and send them back to us so we can send it back to you. If you have any question please give me a call or email me back. Thanks

:eek: :eek: :eek:

So, round about 2pm today, I'll be getting onto their Customer services manager again, it looks like I was on Santa's naughtly list. :mad:

rob1891

I think it goes to show the service you get from a shop doesn't come to the fore until you have a problem. I got a bass from musicstore.com and it turned out to have been labled wrong in their stock room, was a pbass not a jazz. They had fedex pick it up and sent out the jazz as soon as they go it in from distributers. I wasn't all that pleased at the time as it took almost two weeks to sort and I had a nice big new amp waiting there to be played, but considering the trouble your having I have to give the musicstore guys a big thumbs up!

Who paid the import duty and vat, usually fedex phone you up and get you to pay by credit card or arrange COD, that would suck very much if you paid the taxes on it too

Doctor J

Unbelievably, it got worse from there. After talking to them on the 19th, they swore that FedEx would go out on the afternoon of the 19th and pick it up, then ship it straight to me. Of course, a guy from FedEx could be picking up a box a newspapers and not know the difference, so I insisted they get it sent back to them, inspected, and then shipped on to me if all was well. I was told that my order had been mixed up and my bass went to a home for mentally unsound kids. When I pointed out that these people had made no effort to contact them for the week they had the instrument, they still wanted to send it directly to me (ie. FedEx become my problem, etc). No no no no no.

So I just kept an eye on their site and my mail... nothing happened.

I phoned them again on Monday, asking if they had any news for me, any update at all. I was put on hold for over 10 minutes and then was told that FedEx had been out 3 times to the place, twice on the 24th (they didn't bother going out on the 19th after all) and again on the 26th and that they guy who signed for it on the 26th had refused to give it back and told them to cancel the order

So it was hacked after all then? :dunno: I wonder where they got the home for retarded kids story from? :dunno:

So then I asked to speak to the manager, explained how this was a farce and how it wasn't my problem and how I wanted them to ship to me the items I ordered and paid for. I was put on hold for another ten minutes or so. They finally agreed to send me a replacement and, yes, I checked the address. It looks ok so far on their site, but no new tracking link has come up yet. I wait and wait.

I've got to say this about Music 123 : their prices can't be beaten, really, but their site is not 100% secure like it says. Their customer service stinks. If only one person had taken a minute to check that my order was being sent to the correct address after I informed them that my order had possibly been hacked, none of this shyte would have happened. If only one person had bothered to follow up with FedEx that my order wasn't going to be delivered like they said it wouldn't be, then a grands worth of gear wouldn't be plucked - Deliverance stylee - by some theif in Alabama. A month later and I'm still waiting for my order to be shipped to me. All the while, I'm the one who has had to phone them, asking if they've done anything to sort their mess out.

I definitely won't be ordering from them again. I'd rather pay mor from Thomann or even, jesus help me, Musicmaker than go through this sort of torment again.

Giblet

Well you have his address.....

Doctor J

Yup. I'll be sending him my poo... honestly

Doctor J

Finally got my bass this morning, though as a last act of defiance, Music 123 didn't put in the full delivery address, the guy from UPS had to phone to get the name of the street :dunno:

Bastids :mad:


Still, this 6 string bass kicks major ass, almost makes the month of torment worth it.

parasite

good to hear you finally got it

Zaphod B

ROFL... this should be in the humour board.
When's the film coming out?

Doctor J

The studios say it's too far fetched!

mloc

ok i was gonna buy a guitar from their site quite soon, but after reading that, im seriously put off. the prices look good, but if im risking that kinda money, i dont think ill bother!

Doctor J

Try www.Thomann.de

Don't get me wrong, a lot of people have ordered stuff from them without any bother but, in my experience, their site isn't secure and when something goes wrong you'd be better off with a pack of monkeys trying to sort it out.

jeffc

Hi, Doctor J!
Please accept my apology on behalf of Music123 for this difficult experience. This is NOT typical of our performance, and was caused by a clerical error, not by a lack of security.
I'm glad to hear that you got your bass and found it satisfactory.
Any customer who has an issue with our company is welcome to contact me directly and I will get it resolved quickly.
Thank you to the hosts of Boards.IE for providing this forum.
Jeff Cravetz / General Manager / Music123
jeffc@music123.com

feylya

*sniffs* Something don't smell right...

That's a hell of a clerical error, changing the phone number to 555555555 or whatever it was.

Doctor J

Yep. Well I've sent him a mail, I've got it off my chest. We'll wait and see what they say.

feylya

Hmm, I wonder what their response will be....

Doctor J

Don't worry, I'll let ye know

dublinario

Guys, I have read a lot of the messages in this thread, and some say 'everything was fine when I used Music123, whilst others say 'my order with Music123 was a disaster'. With any company, but especially an on-line company, you have to judge them by the spectacularity and frequency of their miserable failures. I understand people wanting to impart that they had a good experience with Music123, but, to be curt, who cares? Imagine Aer Lingus, having had one of their Boeing 747's plough straight into a semi-detached house, argued 'but most of our flights dont crash'!

I placed an order before christmas with Music123 for a Casio Digital Piano and matching stand. This was by far the largest order I have ever made on-line, being around 800 euro in total (including shipping). I was a little uneasy even before the sh*t started to hit the fan. First sign of dodginess was when I recieved a mail saying that the Credit Card details I entered didn't match those divulged by my CC company. I mailed them and told them everything I had entered WAS correct, and they replied saying that it was ok, they had withdrawn the payment from my CC.'Ok, just an early jitter' I thought.

Very shortly after, both Piano and Stand (according to the website) had been shipped. When the Piano finally arrived, it was conspicuously Stand-less. I don’t know if you have ever tried to play a full-size piano out of your hands, ala a guitar, but it is bad for the back to say the least. The UPS delivery man explained the stand would probably arrive the next day, being that sometimes two-piece orders are broken up. So I unpacked the Piano, and everything was fine. Everything apart from the 11 (Yes, count them) f*cking keys that didn't work! I was furious beyond all belief. Taking the avoidance of broken keys into account, the only songs available to me were ‘Stairway to Heaven’, the Rolf Harris version, and Mc. Hammer’s ‘You cant touch this’, without the chorus.

The next day, whilst waiting for Music123 offices in the U.S. to open, I rang UPS to inquire about the Piano Stand, and guess what? UPS had no record of such an item. The stand had never been sent by Music123, even though their website not only stated that it had been sent, but even gave a god damn UPS tracking number for it!

So, to get warmed up for battle, I first sent some preliminary stinking mails of complaint to Music123. I then rang them (at a cost of over 20 euro), and went straight for the juggular about the whole disgusting debacle. I told them about the broken keys and missing stand. When I quizzed them about the Piano Stand, they said that not only had they never shipped it, but they didn't even have it in stock. And when I said 'but lady, I have your website in front of me, and it says the stand has been shipped', she blithely informed me 'well thats not what our system says'. She clearly failed to see the irrelevance of what her poxy in-house system does or does not say. We can’t see it, and hence rely solely on their lying b*stard of a website.

So, to sum up my rant, Music123 were very apologetic, and have since paid the Shipping to have the Piano collected and sent back to the U.S. I got a mail this morning saying that an order is being put through for the replacement. Excuse my cinicism, but whoopdy f*cking do. I now have a lengthy wait for my new Piano, which will make this whole process drag out into whole months since I made my initial order. And who is to say the replacement won't be a piece of broken crap like the last one?

The good news is that the stand finally arrived this week. I now have a stand and no piano. Visitors to the house think I am mentally unbalanced, an officianado of 'Air Piano', a disturbingly delusional cousin of Air Guitar.

Finally, I have to tell you that I know only two other people in the world whom have ordered from Music123, both digital piano's, and both their orders were disasterous too. For one of my friends, the stand has yet to arrive, and for the other, the keyboard just plain didn't work. Obviously not content with shipping piano's with 11-keys not working, Music 123 decided to strengthen their resolve my shipping my friend a piano with all 88 keys not working. B*stards.

Be warned People, carpe diem and all that
Yours rantily,
Alan

Doctor J

FFS :eek:


My sympathies man. I hope it all works out for ye.

Töpher

:eek:

jeffc

Hi, Dublinario!
I would be happy to help you and would also like to address whatever caused these issues whether it is inadequate packaging, factory defects or issues with our own inventory system. Your posting here does not provide the information needed such as your order number or e-mail address. Please send these details to me at jeffc@music123.com and I will follow up immediately. If you could pass this address on to the others you mentioned who have had damaged goods delivered, it would be greatly appreciated.
I agree completely with your point that a company should be measured by its response to disasters, not by its successes. Please help me to provide the responsiveness that you deserve.
While a "company" is an entity of its own, in reality our staff is made up of musicians just like those of you reading this. This gives us a kinship with our customers that you don't find in most businesses. We all actually use the products that we sell.
As your fellow musician, I will do all that can be done to help. I sincerely believe that what is best for you is best for us as well.
Jeff Cravetz / General Manager / Music123

fitz

Originally posted by jeffc

I agree completely with your point that a company should be measured by its response to disasters, not by its successes. Please help me to provide the responsiveness that you deserve.
While a "company" is an entity of its own, in reality our staff is made up of musicians just like those of you reading this. This gives us a kinship with our customers that you don't find in most businesses. We all actually use the products that we sell.
As your fellow musician, I will do all that can be done to help. I sincerely believe that what is best for you is best for us as well.
Jeff Cravetz / General Manager / Music123

Typical management bullsh*t.

Jeffc, this kind of sycophantic placation might work accross the pond, but we don't take well to it here.

You haven't addressed the nature of the "clerical error" that sent Doctor Js bass to the wrong address.

What's best for the customer is to get the product first time, on time, in working order.
Anything less, and your company, regardless of it's "kinship" is remiss, and not providing the service it advertises.

Verbal apologies are hardly worth the virtual space they're written on here.

What's best for a customer who's been messed around is not just for you to pay to ship the faulty product back, but to make some kind of goodwill jesture towards the customer to win back their confidence, like good 30ft Planet Waves lead for Doctor J or a piano stool for Dublinarino, or something.

Anything less is an insipid attempt to portray your company as more than what it appears to be; a shoddy, disorganised, ill-staffed organisation which cares not a whit about its customers.

Good day to you sir.

Töpher

Well said. My brother has recently decided not to purchase the new guitar he's looking to get from this site on the basis of this. Purely because he doesn't believe his money would be safe.

They finally agreed to send me a replacement

I'm looking at the word "finally" here. When they know they had made a mistake, and sent it to the wrong place, why should the customer who has paid have to pester the place continually for what is rightfully his?

fitz

Precisely.

"It's been delivered to the wrong address...hmmm. Okay, we'll send you another one to the correct address, and recover the other one ourselves."

That's what a company that wants to deliver quality of service would have said.

Disgraceful, their attitude, excuses and "apologies" just don't cut the mustard as far as I'm concerned.

I'll be spreading the word about them.

dublinario

It just gets better and better, it really does. I am now informed by UPS that, because Music123 didn't mark the shipment box of my replacement Piano as being a warranty replacement or repair (i.e. there is no correlation between the replacement and the broken piano) I will now have to pay VAT and import duties all over again.

So the 160 euro (roughly $200) that I paid for the broken piano I now have to pay again come Monday morning. What a complete and utter debacle.

Doctor J

I should really be more surprised than I am :dunno:


Did you email yer man?

fitz

Doc, did you get a reply from them? What they have to say for themselves?

Doctor J

"Hi, Doctor J!
It is not my style to offer excuses, but rather, I want to assure you that we are doing all that can be done to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
Our sales office, where I work, is located in New Jersey. Our Customer Service and warehouse facility is in Indiana. The Chief Operating Officer for our company travels between the two locations, so I have forwarded this e-mail to him in order that the customer service and shipping problems that you encountered can be addressed at the highest levels of our operation.
If you choose to do business with us again, as I hope you will, please allow me to be your contact with our company so that I can provide you with the level of service that you expect and deserve.
Sincerely,
Jeff Cravetz / General Manager / Music123"


I'm not mad on excuses myself, but an explanation would be nice at some stage. I hope they sort themselves out but I can't honestly picture myself buying from them again, which is a shame. I emphasised that the hacking/clerical error thing wasn't what was so galling, it was that my problem (and I would guess Dublinario's too) could've been easily solved if someone had just bothered thier arse to take a minute to check that everything was in order, before it was shipped, after it was shipped to Alabama, before it was delivered to Alabama, after it was delivered to Alabama, etc etc etc etc...

fitz

Wow. He's going to send on the email.

Really good way to salvage a customer...

Doctor J

Yes... slightly underwhelming

feylya

A guitarist from a band I work with ordered a guitar from them quite a few months ago. He's still waiting on the guitar. Doesn't really inspire confidence in them...

-=al=-

i ordered a guita rin 03 and some pickups and it came no hassle,

BUT last nite i tried to order a pod and some dimarzio's + other stuff and they wont ship the pod or dimarzios to europe...


apparently certain companies wont ship outside the US! theres a list of the companies i dont have it but told about it, its really fxcking annoying,

ill have to get it shipped to friend in tha US before here its a pain

worldwide my ass.....

Eoin Madsen

Well, to be fair, that problem is with the companies themselves, not the store. No music shop can ship anything to anywhere. After the dollar dropped in value, quite a lot of distribution limitations started to appear. Presumably to try and prevent devaluation of stocks in Europe... or something like that.

Ravelleman

Yikes this is an old thead!

My brother ordered a snare drum from 123 a while back and they didn't send him the free case. He emailed them and it arrived a few weeks later. Still, they always seems to forget the cases...

goin'_to_the_PS

could be spyware on your computer

BizzyC

I always buy from www.wwbw.com

It's pretty much the same site as music123, but I've never had any problems.
I dont get international shipping though. Get it shipped to my sister in Boston, who checks the order and sends it on.

Best way to do it, cause any problems are sussed out within a couple of days, before international shipping.

Nidge

This sounds like an absolute disaster of a company, the amount of people who have posted saying "all grand except they didn't send the free case"!. I mean if it's free it should be no hassle, same with the piano stand, is it too much to ask to have all things accounted for? I am NEVER ordering anything from them. I have had my fair share of problems with ordering things over the internet and that was not Music123, but this is really putting me off taking out the credit card (and it's not even mine).

BizzyC

Actually, I have had problems with wwbw.
I was waiting months for cymbals, despite paying extra for a quick delivery, and last time they forgot one of the items, and i had to wait weeks for them to send a replacement.

steveland?

Doctor J wrote:

they swore that FedEx would go out on the afternoon of the 19th and pick it up, then ship it straight to me.

If they deliver something to someone else, pick it up and then ship it out to you it is a second hand item...

ie, someone else could have played it and done god knows what else before you get it...

You're not paying over a grand for a second hand guitar...

feylya

What was the point of dragging up the post for that?

-=al=-

i used them once 2 years ago got a guitar 2 pickups and a strap, everything was a-ok got the stuff in 5 days service was great, used them again this year, they shipped half of my stuff! i was emailing them for 2 weeks, no reply, i had to ring them up in order to get em to ship the rest, wasnt very happy at all at this stage, got everything in the end, but yeah not very convincing, + they moved their warehouse recently, and im sure there was some changes in the business anyways

they dont ship most brands overseas now, its a lot less limited for internatial shipping

ordered from thomann onces got it in 5 days too, + felt more comfotable gettin it fro germany

happytime

jeffc@music123.com

email does'nt seem to be working.....delivery failure notification thingy

happytime

hey

has anyone had any recent experience dealing with music 123???